….

THE PROJECTThe Wirral and West Lancashire genealogical survey
has now been completed. Following the interest created in the 2001 BBC Blood of
Vikings series in which evidence for descendants of Norwegian Vikings were
found in the Scottish Isles, Isle of Man and the North Lakes, a new survey was
launched in 2002 looking for evidence for Norse descendants in Wirral and West
Lancashire, since the place name and other evidence suggests this area was once
populated by Scandinavian settlers.

The survey supported by the U.K. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences
Research Council under the prestigious Watson-Crick 50th Anniversary programme
was commenced in 2002 by researchers from the Universities of Leicester – the
home of Genetic Fingerprinting - and
Nottingham
and has now been completed. The synopsis for the project was as follows:
"If Vikings invaded and settled particular regions of the
British Isles, we may be able to see their legacy within
the DNA of modern populations of these regions. The male-specific Y chromosome
is more likely to have preserved the signal of Viking presence than other parts
of our DNA. In this project we extend the BBC's 'Blood of the Vikings' study in
the Wirral and SW & West Lancs region, where Viking settlement is known to
have been substantial, but where modern population influx has also been
great. We plan to analyse the Y chromosomes of men from these regions who
also have surnames known to have been present their in mediaeval times, and
thus to bypass the recent major population movements in the region that may
disturb the relationships between old genes and modern geography".

BACKGROUNDThe
search for Viking Blood has now, at last, come to a conclusion. Following the
interest created in the 2001 BBC Blood of Vikings series in which evidence for
descendants of Norwegian Vikings were found in the Scottish Isles, Isle of Man
and the North Lakes, a new survey was launched in 2002 looking for evidence for
Norse descendants in Wirral and West Lancashire, since the place name and other
evidence suggests this area was once populated by Scandinavian settlers. Despite the large increase in population of
Wirral and West Lancashire since the Industrial Revolution, preliminary
measurements from a survey done in conjunction with scientists at the
University of Nottingham and University College London yielded some
tantalising, but not definitive, signs. This
clip from BBC Blood of Vikings shows volunteers at West Kirby being tested by
Nottingham University students Emma Compton (now Emma Hurley) and Giles
Pergl-Wilson. This second
clipshows the apparently remarkable finding from the BBC series of Bill
Housley from Meols. Encouraged by this
it was decided to probe much deeper with a full survey penetrating beyond the
Industrial Revolution, by requesting the help of volunteers from old Wirral and
West Lancashire families, or volunteers whose surnames are those of places in
Wirral or West Lancashire. In this way we can link old genes with
modern geography, bypassing the large population influx since Medieval times:
the population of Wirral for example has increased by a factor of 60: this is
almost 10 times the national average increase.

For
the survey we focussed on male volunteers from old families in Wirral and West
Lancashire: people who can either say their male line goes back before 1700 in
Wirral or West Lancashire (or South West Lancashire), or those people who have
surnames that were in these areas before 1700: a similar criteria - surnames
before 1700 - was applied in a recent survey of the Orkney's. This criterion is
critical because of the large influx of people into the area during the
Industrial Revolution. For example, the population of Wirral has increased from
5000 in 1545 to 10,000 in 1801 and 350,000 today, a factor of 60: far above the
national average (which is only between 6-8 times). The new survey supported by
the U.K. Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council under the
prestigious Watson-Crick 50th Anniversary programme was commenced in 2002 by
researchers from the Universities of Leicester and Nottingham.SYNOPSIS: OLD SURNAMES, OLD GENES AND MODERN GEOGRAPHY
The synopsis of the project is as follows: "If Vikings invaded and settled
particular regions of the British Isles, we may be able to see their legacy
within the DNA of modern populations of these regions. The male-specific Y
chromosome is more likely to have preserved the signal of Viking presence than
other parts of our DNA. In this project we extend the BBC's 'Blood of the
Vikings' study in the Wirral and SW& West Lancs region, where Viking
settlement is known to have been substantial, but where modern population
influx has also been great. We plan to analyse the Y chromosomes of men from
these regions who also have surnames known to have been present their in
mediaeval times, and thus to bypass the recent major population movements in
the region that may disturb the relationships between old genes and modern
geography".

GENETIC SURVEY: WEST LANCASHIREThe
survey of West Lancashire started on November 13th (2002) to coincide with the
Ormskirk Advertiser Lecture and the 1000th anniversary of the St. Brice's Day
Massacre when King Ethelred ordered the slaughter of all Danes in England. You
can hear Patrick Waite talk about it in a BBC
Radio Lancashire broadcast on 8th March, a further
broadcast on Radio Lancashire with MP Ron Rigby on 5th May, and finally a broadcast on
Radio Lancashire on 14th November by Alison Brownwhich described some of the
sampling done in Ormskirk. The survey concentrated on men who have surnames
that were present in West Lancashire before 1700. This is of particular
interest since West Lancashire has a wealth of Scandinavian place names: there
are well over 100 names of status village or above which have clear Viking
origins, and if minor names, topographical names are included the list runs
into thousands.
We focussed on men with surnames appearing on the two lists below: the List A -
based on West Lancashire place names - or List B - based on a list of
inhabitants of Ormskirk, Scarisbrick with Hurlton, Bickerstaffe, Burscough with
Marton, Westhead with Lathom and Skelmersdale who promised to contribute to the
stipend of the priest of the altar of Our Lady at Ormskirk, in the year 1366.
Another criterion was that as far as far a volunteer was aware, his father's
line (father's father's father etc.) is from West Lancs.

The 1366 document, at the
Lancashire Record Office, Preston, was reproduced in the Ormskirk &
District Family Historian, Spring 1991 (ISBN 0 947915
28 1). The transcription to modern day names was done by Stephen Roberts.
Volunteers satisfying these criteria were obtained by the West
Lancashire Heritage Association in conjunction with the Ormskirk Advertiser and
Liverpool Daily Post.

FOLLOW UP PROJECT:
VIKINGS IN NORTHERN ENGLANDFollowing the success a new survey of North Lancs, Cumbria and N. Yorkshire – to see how far the Norse
settlers coming in from the Irish Sea penetrated – is now well underway, funded
by the Wellcome Trust and led by Turi King. The project is
also involving obtaining an improved genetic profile of old Scandinavia.

SOME PHOTOGRAPHS FROM THE 27TH NOV 2007 EVENT AT KNOWSLEY:

28TH NOVEMBER 2007: STEVE AND
TORGRIM BREAK THE NEWS TO THE WIRRAL THING